Manage business templates in QuickBooks QuickBooks Bureau Payroll

A business template is a pre-made package of customised default payroll settings for a new business created under a specific brand.

When you apply a specific business template while adding a new business, it ignores the general default payroll settings that are normally set up for new businesses. Instead, it applies the default payroll settings that have been set up under the source business classified as a business template.

This article will cover:

• Set up a business template
• Add a template to a new business
• Edit a template or payroll settings
• Find the source business
• Track changes made to the template
• Archive or restore a template

Before you start

Here are some important points to remember when creating a business template:

• You can set up multiple business templates for each brand.
• Each source business can only be used once to create a business template. A business is associated with only one brand and cannot be shared between brands, so there's no need to use a source business more than once.
• Additionally, a business template can only be applied to one brand. It cannot be shared between brands. If you need a template for another brand, create a new source business under that brand and classify it as a business template.

(Back to top)

Who can create a business template?

To create a business template, you need to do two things: create the source business and classify it as a template. Here's who can do each step:

1. Creating the source business: Anyone with full access business permissions can create the source business. This includes users with partner permission, brand permission or full access permission to businesses under the brand.
2. Classifying the source business as a template: Only users with access to the partner dashboard can classify the source business as a template. This includes users with partner permission or brand permission.

(Back to top)

Set up a business template

1. In QuickBooks, make sure you're in the business where you want to apply the business template to.
2. Select the briefcase to add a new business.
3. Go through the steps to provide the necessary details.
4. Customise the payroll settings that you want to apply to the business template.
5. To make this business the source business for the business template:
   1. Go to Business Maintenance, and search for the business you just created.
   2. Choose the business from the search results.
   3. Look for Business Template.
   4. If you see the Create option, this means that you can make this the source business. If you don't see this option,  it means the business is already being used as a source business for a template and cannot be used again.
6. Select Create to start using the business as a template.
7. Complete the following fields:
   • Business template name: This is the name that'll show in the dropdown list when you add a new business. Choose a name that makes sense to you and your team when adding businesses.
   • Description: Give more details and info about the template. This will only show in the partner dashboard and not your clients or business setup.
   • Default: To make this template the default option when adding a new business, select "Apply by default for all new businesses created under brand."
     However, you can still choose another template or no template when adding a business. If you don't see this option, it means another source business has already been set as the default template.
8. After you select Save, you can expand the details of the template by selecting its name.

(Back to top)

Add a template to a new business

Keep in mind that you can only apply a business template when creating or adding a new business. You can't apply a business template to existing businesses.

1. Add or create a new business.
2. In the Payroll Details section, QuickBooks will ask you "Which template payroll settings would you like to apply this business?". Select the template from the dropdown options.
   • If you don't see this question in the wizard when adding a new business, it means that no business templates have been created for that particular brand.
3. If there is a default business template, it'll be automatically selected in the dropdown list. If there is no default template, the default option will be No Template. But you can always change it.

To check whether a business template was applied to a specific business when it was created:

1. Go to Business Created.
2. Look for Business Template Name.
3. The name of the business template will appear in that field. If the value is null it means that no business template was used.

(Back to top)

Edit a template or payroll settings

To edit an existing template:

1. Go to the partner dashboard.
2. Select Business maintenance.
3. Select Settings.
4. In the "Business templates" section, select the pencil icon to edit.
5. Make the necessary changes.
6. Select Save.

To edit payroll settings:

If you have access to the source business of the business template, you can edit the payroll setting. Before you do, here are some points to keep in mind:

• Any changes made to the business template's payroll settings will not affect existing businesses that applied the template during their creation.
• The changes will only apply to new businesses that are added and use that business template from that point forward.
• There are no restrictions on how often payroll settings can be changed or updated.

1. Go to the partner dashboard.
2. Look for and select the business to open its details.
3. Make changes as you usually would.
4. Select Save.

(Back to top)

Archive or restore a template

Archiving the business template won't delete the source business, but it will remove the business template from QuickBooks.

Once a template is archived, it'll no longer appear in the template dropdown list when adding a new business.

To archive:

1. Look for the business template.
2. Select Archive.
3. To check if a business template was archived, go to Business Template Deleted.

To restore:

1. Go to Restore Deleted.
2. Select Business Template from the dropdown options.
3. Next to the business template, select Restore. If this option is locked, it means that the source business is already classified as a business template. QuickBooks won't let you restore the template because you can only have one business template per source business at a time.

(Back to top)

Find the source business

To check which business has been used as a business template:

1. Go to either the partner dashboard or the payroll dashboard.
2. Look for the option to search businesses.
3. Check if the label "TEMPLATE" appears next to the business name in the search results.

(Back to top)

Track changes made to the template

Note: Only a brand user or partner can see this information.

1. Go to the partner dashboard.
2. Select the business to open its details.
3. Select Events.
4. In the "Business template updated" section, check the "Last updated' field".
5. To see specific payroll setting changes, go to Business template.
6. Select System events. You'll be redirected to the Events page.
7. The "From" date will be pre-filled with the last updated date.
8. Select Search to retrieve all events that occurred in the source business, including the specific payroll setting changes.

(Back to top)